Steevenson Saint Louis has been overcoming difficulties his entire life.

After his father passed away when he was 8 years old, his mom, unable to provide for him, placed him in an orphanage.

Chilove, 17, joined Grace Emmanuel School as a 10th grader this fall. She lives in Source Matelas, the village just south of the school, where she attended the national school.

If you walk through the village of Source Matelas on any given school day, you are bound to run into school-aged kids who are not in school. Perhaps they started school in September but were sent home after a few months when their mom couldn’t pay the rest of the tuition. Maybe their older siblings are in school, but there just wasn’t enough money to send the younger kids. Maybe they’ve never had the chance to go to school.

Due to the unprecedented strengthening of the Haitian gourde and increased costs of operating the Grace Emmanuel School, JiHM will be raising its student sponsorship amount this spring for the first time in over 11 years. Sponsors will be notified by mail and email in the coming weeks. Steve Mooibroek, JiHM’s Board Chair, shares the reason for the increase in his letter to sponsors below.